3) The Kraken

February 22, 2013

Is it an island? Or is it the Kraken? Let’s read on.

There could always be more than one Kraken in the ocean, but people prefer to call the myth, “The Kraken.” At first The Kraken had an appearance of a crab like monster, but now it’s a giant squid that lives between the coast of Norway and Greenland. It is even said to be one and a half miles wide and is often mistaken as an island. As a matter of fact, it’s the largest sea creature known to man.

The Kraken wraps it’s tentacles around a passing ship, and then pulls it under, drowning or eating everyone on it. In fact it is predicted that these tentacles have the power to crush 80 elephants! These tales started around the twelfth century, but was named in the year 1555 by a Swedish archbishop.

The Kraken has become so popular that there’s a couple movies with this unusual cephalopod having an appearance. These movies include Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The Kraken also appears in many video games and even has a ride in Sea World Orlando in the United States. There’s even a drink called, “The Kraken Black Spiced Rum.” Also, krake means “octopus” in German. Coincidence?

Apparently, researcher Mark McMenamin discovered a fossil site that had bones arranged to look like the Kraken. These bones happened to be ichthyosaur bones, fish that were known to live 245 million years ago.

These bones seemed too artificially placed to be a natural placement, and the fact that 9 ichthyosaur skeletons laid in one spot was strange as well. People thought that this could only be the Kraken.

Some scientists believe that the Kraken does exist, but are they right? Many people disagree on the Kraken’s existence and think that the sightings are really just ordinary giant squids. Other people believe in this creature because of pictures like shown below.

No one knows for sure if the Kraken exists, so for now, it remains a legend.